Most Muscovites go about their daily lives. But behind the public displays of patriotism and demonstrative apathy, another feeling is getting stronger: disgust. Moscow resembles a room in which there’s a corpse. And everybody is trying not to notice it.
The corpse, of course, is the war with Ukraine. Despite a recent — but shaky — ceasefire agreement, it’s lying there, and the people aren’t looking or talking about it. They tell each other jokes, comfort each other and say that everything will be fine. One person philosophizes, another beats his chest patriotically. And the corpse smells horrible. But just don’t look, and maybe it will disappear on its own. Maybe everyone will wake up in a different reality. People don’t find any words. The fear and helplessness are too big to talk about this corpse.
People aren’t silent only in Moscow. In the northwestern city of Pskov, on the border with Estonia, there are real corpses. They are paratroopers who lost their lives in covert missions in eastern Ukraine. At least 12 names are known. The state prosecutor has declared that the place of death is a state secret.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member